Results::
VA in newborns was significantly correlated with age (r=0.93).Best fitting model was represented by the reciprocal function:VA= 1 /0.49 + 0.021 * age.In other words, our prediction was thatthe newborns had a VA of about 2 LogMAR (snellen 0.01 = 20/2000)at birth and they reached a VA of 1 LogMAR ( snellen 0.1 = 20/200)in 237 days on average; 97% of the babies reached this VA within266 days.When correcting data for prematurity, the model becameVA= 1 /0.49 + 0.027 * age.VA improved faster while confidenceinterval decreased, so that in 97% of the cases the time toreach a VA of 1 LogMAR (0.1 = 20/200) dropped to 200 days, withan average time of 188 days.Only 11 babies (11% of those respondingto B&W bars) did not respond to the colored bars; none ofthese babies was older than 30 days (mean age = 20 days). Allthe other babies did respond to the same barsize, both B&Wand color.No differences were found in rightward vs leftwardbars movement, but 22 babies (23%) presented a temporary esotropiaon the eye moving towards the nose. This percentage did notdiffer between full-term and preterm babies (chi square=0.88P=ns). Similar results were found at one-month follow-up butafter correcting data for prematurity we found fewer differencesthan in previous analysis.

Conclusions::
According to our results VA in newborns could be lower thanreported from other Authors (0.4 to 0.6 snellen). This may bedue to the fact that LogMAR and hyperbolic regression were usedin our study for parameters estimation.